


You've Got A Friend In Me

by grandpajumpersandeyelashes



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Costumes, Gen, Halloween, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 06:19:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5118365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandpajumpersandeyelashes/pseuds/grandpajumpersandeyelashes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my Halloween fan works exchange entry that I organized. It was super fun actually, I've never really done much focusing as them when they were little-little kids, but I liked it a lot actually. It got a little flavor of Toy Story in there too, but not a lot. The title was inspired by the song in that movie though.</p>
    </blockquote>





	You've Got A Friend In Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheZeroMoment](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheZeroMoment/gifts).



> This is my Halloween fan works exchange entry that I organized. It was super fun actually, I've never really done much focusing as them when they were little-little kids, but I liked it a lot actually. It got a little flavor of Toy Story in there too, but not a lot. The title was inspired by the song in that movie though.

Kieren was what most would consider a bit of a runt. He was smaller than most of the other boys his age, and much, much quieter. As far as his parents knew, he hadn’t made many friends at school either, as he had yet to ask if anyone could come over. They worried sick about their eldest child.

That is, until one day, in the middle of October, when Kieren tapped his mum on the shoulder and asked her, “Can I be Woody for Halloween?” with a shy smile on his face. When Sue looked a bit perplexed at her son, he continued. “Rick is gonna be Buzz Lightyear and told me I should be Woody and we can trick or treat together.”

Sue wasn’t sure she had ever agreed to something her children requested so quickly. She took him out the next weekend to find the perfect costume, complete with a shoe with “ANDY” on the bottom. She didn’t think she would ever get him out of the costume when they got home because he was so proud of it and couldn’t wait to show Rick. It took him some convincing to not wear it to school the following Monday.

“Love, why don’t you see if Rick would like to carve pumpkins with us, you could show him your costume then.” Sue had suggested once a pouting Kieren had forgotten the idea of wearing the ensemble anywhere other than trick or treating later that month.

Kieren flashed one of the biggest smiles Sue had ever seen and nodded vigorously. “Can he come to the pumpkin patch too?” he asked, excited.

Sue quickly agreed, instructing Kieren to give a slip of paper to Rick for his mother. “Tell him to have her give me a ring, then we’ll figure out a time that works.” she told her son who shoved it into his pants pocket before taking off towards the bus that was coming to a stop at the curb to take him to school.

\---

“I like this one!” Kieren shouted, pointing to what was possibly the largest pumpkin in the patch. “Look how big it is, Rick! We should get this one!”

Rick laughed, “It’s almost as big as you!” he told his friend with a grin.

Kieren crossed his arms, defiantly looking at the pumpkin (which upon further inspection, really was closer to his size than he cared to acknowledge). “But the big ones are more fun.”

The other boy shrugged, reaching for a more reasonably sized pumpkin. “I like the littler ones, I think.” Rick said, comparing the behemoth that Kieren was eying to his own.

At that, Kieren scrunched his nose, “Why would you like the little ones?”

“I like you, and you’re pretty little.” Rick countered, smiling. “‘sides, there’s less stuff inside the little ones.” he told Kieren. “That stuff is gross.”

After much debate over the merits that make one pumpkin more superior than another specific pumpkin, the pair left the pumpkin patch with pumpkins that were inverses of their size. After a bit of struggling, Rick traded Kieren to take the bigger one to the car (even though even he found it a bit too heavy, but he certainly wouldn’t admit that to his friend).

Once they were in Steve’s car headed back to Roarton, he glanced in his rearview mirror to see both boys, strangely quiet compared to the rest of the afternoon, sleeping in the back, their heads nearly touching as they slumped over to the same side.

“I don’t think they’ll get much carving done today.” Steve laughed, motioning for his wife to look back at the boys as well.

Sue smiled warmly at the sight. “Maybe I’ll give Janet a call. I’ll see if it’s alright if Rick stays over.” she said fondly, though she had only just met the boy. After so much worry about Kieren not having friends at school, simply seeing this boy and knowing how well he treated her son was just the comfort she needed.

\---

“Pssst, Rick!” Kieren whispered, poking the sleeping form next to him. When he only made a small groaning noise but didn’t otherwise react, Kieren grew a little louder. “Rick!” he repeated, this time almost a regular tone in his voice and a more forceful shaking of Rick’s shoulder.

This time Rick responded, rolling over to see what Kieren wanted. “What, Ren?”

“Do you know any ghost stories?” Kieren asked, curious. “I can’t sleep.” he said, as if it was a simply explanation that covered all strangeness of the wakeup call.

Rick rubbed the sleep from his eyes before sitting up. “Well, you know the ghost that’s in the woods out behind the church, don’t you?” he asked Kieren. Illuminated by the night light still plugged into the wall in the corner, Rick could see Kieren’s head shake as he looked perplexed.  
A grin crossed Rick’s face before he drew a deep breath to begin. “A long time ago, there was a Vicar-” 

Rick was quickly interrupted by Kieren. “How long ago?”

“I don’t know, Ren. A long time. Probably like, a thousand years ago.” Rick reasoned with a shrug. “Anyway, the Vicar lived in a house back by where Vicar Odie lives now, except the house burnt down a few years after that vicar died, so that’s why it’s not here anymore.” He told him. “What?” he asked when Kieren was clearly itching to ask another question.

“What was his name?”

“I don’t know what his name was.” Rick told his friend, who in his eyes was being ridiculous. “This was too long ago, Ren.”

Kieren pouted. “He must have had a name.”

“Fine, we’ll call him Vicar Wilkerson. After our maths teacher. I don’t know which one is worse, actually.” Rick grinned before continuing his story. “So Vicar Wilkerson was an evil old man who did nothing but preach about how kids shouldn’t be allowed to sin. What they didn’t know is that he had special powers to know whenever a kid in the village lied or stole a piece of candy. Even if they thought a bad thing about their mum, Vicar Wilkerson knew.

“So eventually he got so tired of knowing everything that kids did, he decided to give the bad kids in the village candy that would make them sick for Halloween when they trick or treated at his house. That’s all he was going to do, but then there was a kid who was already really sick when he ate the candy. The Vicar didn’t mean to kill him, but the kid died and he felt so bad that he offed himself.

“Now, whenever you go trick or treating at Vicar Odie’s, there’s a ghost of that boy who died that tries to take over the kids who are there. But what’s worse is that Vicar Wilkerson decided after he died that he liked killing kids who don’t listen to sermons. So if you’re trick or treating at Vicar Odies - which we should do because he’s got the best candy - you better say some extra prayers the night before.”

Kieren only stared at his friend, not entirely sure how to react to the story. “Who told you that story, Rick?”

“My dad, of course.” Rick said proudly. “He tells lots of stories like that. I think there’s a lot of old vicars and kids around here that didn’t used to follow all the rules because they are always the ones coming up with problems.”

Kieren nodded a little bit to acknowledge his friend. “I bet that’s right.” he said politely, thinking the whole while that it sounded more like his old Sunday school teacher trying to scare them into following everything in the bible. “I’m really tired now, thanks for the story, Rick. “Good night, again.” he said, yawning.

“Good night, Ren.” Rick smiled softly before closing his eyes as well.

\---

“What are you going to make, Kieren?” Rick asked his friend who had gathered up all the carving supplies that they would need in order to carve the pumpkins the next morning.

Kieren only shrugged, taking out a permanent marker to make approximations on where his cuts would go. “Probably a face, some kind of regular jackolantern, I suppose.” he told him. “What about you? What are you going to make?”

“I’m not any good at drawing. I’ll probably make some sort of face though.” he shrugged.

“What kind of face do you want?” Kieren asked. “If you want, I can help you draw it. Then you can cut it out, if my dad lets us do it ourselves, if you want.” he offered.

Rick thought for a moment. “I want something scary for my pumpkin.” he decided eventually after much careful consideration.

Kieren laughed, “All the pumpkins are scary, you could do something different, you know.” he said, but Rick shook his head. “Fine, well my pumpkin is going to be happy, but I’ll make yours a scary one.”

Sue came in with cookies and hot coco in time to see Kieren begin drawing on the pumpkins, tongue stuck out in concentration. “Thank you, Mrs. Walker.” Rick said with a smile as she set them down in front of the boys.

“You’re welcome, Rick.” she said sweetly. “I hope Kieren isn’t trying to take over making your pumpkin for you, he quite likes drawing everything for everyone, but if you want to do one you can tell him.” she suggested, noticing her son with the pumpkin Rick had picked.

“Mum!” Kieren interjected. “Rick asked me if I could. I’m just helping him!” he protested.

Sue only laughed, messing up her son’s hair. “I just wanted to be sure, love. I know how you are with art is all.”

Kieren pouted a bit before continuing his work on the jagged mouth that he was giving Rick’s pumpkin. Before long, the orange fruit had sharp triangle eyes, a flat nose, and a jagged grin that seemed ready to eat whoever came near it. Rick was staring at it it wonder as Kieren began work on his own pumpkin. The giggling that Kieren was making made Rick curious enough to eventually glance at what his friend was drawing.

“How are you going to cut that out?” Rick asked, perplexed. Kieren had drawn Buzz and Woody from Toy Story, but there was clearly no easy way to make it into a jack-o-lantern. 

Kieren only shrugged, going back to work on the drawing. After he was finished and showed his parents, Sue suggested just scraping into the skin of the pumpkin rather than cutting the entire thing out, so while Rick cut the sharp edges of his, Kieren scratched at his until the yellowy inside was to his satisfaction.

\---

On Halloween night, Kieren had suddenly gotten sick. A touch of the flu had been going around school, and Sue feared that was simply going to have to run its course through Kieren as well. Still, it was heartbreaking for her to have to call his new friend’s mum to cancel the previously made plans for Kieren to go with them.

Kieren himself was distraught, wanting only for his mother to believe that he was feeling better (though it was rather obviously not true). He put on his costume, refusing to take it off, but Sue did manage to convince him to rest of the sofa after she told him he could watch a scary movie with Steve.

With every child who came trick or treating though, Kieren grew more and more upset at not being able to go. The movie had almost run its entire course, so not much was helping Kieren feel better about the fact that what felt like the entire village had been out trick or treating at his house except for him.

There was another knock just as the credits began to roll. Kieren was staring wistfully at the door as his mum approached it with a bowl of candy in her hands. What surprised him was to see a young Buzz Lightyear at the door, not holding out a bag to be filled with candy, but standing bashfully with his candy behind his back, and mother standing just behind him.

“Mrs. Walker, may I please see Kieren?” he asked softly.

Sue smiled warmly, stepping slightly to the side. “Of course, Rick.” she smiled as the young boy darted into the house over to his friend.

“We were about to walk home when he just started begging to come here.” Janet told Sue who had ushered her inside and into the kitchen. The two women looked out to where they could see their sons sitting on the floor, Rick’s candy spilled on the floor in between them as they split it between them

When Rick had to leave, Kieren didn’t know how to thank his friend, though he knew he should. Rick had almost stepped out before Kieren wrapped his arms around him, hugging his best friend for all he was worth.


End file.
